The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1887-09-29


men who are in trying to keep in, men out
trying to get in, slips, tumbles, defalca.
tions, panics, catastrophes. o womanl
thank God you have home, and that you
may be queen in it.
Better be there than wear Victoria's cor
onet. Better be there than carry the purse of |
a princess. Your abode may be humble, but |
you can, by your faith in God, and your
cheerfulness of demeanor, gid it with |
splendors such as an upholsterer's hand |
never yet kindled. There are abodes in |
the city-humble, two stories; four plain, |
unpapered rooms; undesirable neighbor. |
hood; and yet there is a man here this
morning who would die on that threshold
raj Ger than surrender it. Whyt |
1t is home. Whenever he thinks Of it,
he sees angels of God lowering around it.
The ladders of Heaven are let down to
that house. Over the child's rough crib
there are the chantings of angels, as those
that broke over Bethlehem. 1t is home.
These children may come up after awhile,
and they may win high position, and they
may have an affluent residence; but they
will not until their dying day forget that
humble roof under which their father
rested, and their mother sang, and their
sisters played. o, if you would gather up
all tender memories, and the lights and
shades of the heart, all banquetings and
reunions, all filial, fraternal, paternal and
conjugal affections, and you had only just
four letters with which to spell out that
height and depth, and length, and breadth,
and magnitude, and eternity of meaning,
you would, with streaming eyes, and
trembling voices, and agitated hand, write
it out in those four living capitals, home
What right does woman want that is
grander than to be queen in such a realm?
Why, the eagles of Heaven can not fly
across that dominion. Horses, painting
and with lathered TANKS, are not swift
enough to run to the outpost of that realm.
They say that the sun never sets upon the
English empire; but have to tell you that
on this realm of woman's influence ct ernity
never marks any bound. Isabella fled
from the Spanish throne pursued by the
nations anathema; but she who is queen
in home will never lose her throne, and
heavenly principalities.
When you want to get your grandest
idea Of a queen, you do not think of Cath
crime of Russia, or Anne of England, or
Marie Theresa of Germany; but when
you want to get your grandest
idea of queen, you think of
the plain woman who sat
opposite your father at the table, or walked
with him arm in arm down life's pathway;
sometimes to the thanksgiving banquet,
| sometimes to the grave, but always to-
gether-soothing your petty griefs, cor
| recting your childish waywardness, join
| ing in your infantile sports, listening to
needle, or at the spinning-wheel, and on
cold nights wrapping you up snug and
| warm. And then at last ON that day when
she lay in the back room dying. and you
saw her take those thin hands with which
she toiled for you so long, and put them to.
| gether in a dying prayer that commended
you to the God whom she taught you to
trust-O, she was the queen! The chariots
of God came down to fetch her; and as she
went in all heaven rose up. You can not
think of her now without rush of tender
ness that stirs the deep foundations of
your soul, and you feel as
much a child again as when you
cried on her lap; and if you could bring
her back again to speak just once more
your name, as tenderly as she used to
speak it, you would be willing to throw
yourself on the ground and kiss the sod
that covers her, crying, Mother
motherW All, she was the queen-she was
the queen. Now, can you tell me how
many thousand miles a woman like that
would have to travel down before she got
to the ballot-box? Compared with this
work OF training kings and queens fol
God and eternity, how insignificant
seems all this work of voting for aldermen
and common councilmen, and sheriffs, anG
constables, and mayors, and presidents
To make such a grand woman as I have
described, how many thousands
would you want of those people
who go in the round of godlessness, and
fashion, and dissipation, distortins
their body until in their monstros
tiles they seem to outdo the dromedarJ
and hippopotamus! going as far TOWARD
dsgraceful apparel as they dare go, SO al
; not to be arrested of the police-their be
haviour a sorrow to the good and car
feature Of the vicious, and an insult t.
that God who made them women and no
gorgons; and tramping on, down through
frivolous and dissipated life, to tempora
and eternal dannation.
o, woman, with the lightning of you
soul, strike dead at your feet all these al
lurements to dissipation and to fashion
Your immortal soul can not be fed upol
such garbage. God calls you up to empir
and dominion. Will you have it? o, Civ
to God your heart; give to God your bes
energies; give to God all your culture, Civ
to God all your refinement; give yourself
to him for this world and the next
Soon all these bright eyes will b
quenched, and these voices will be hushed
For the last time you will look upon thi
fair earth. Fathers hand, mothers hand
sisters hand. child's hand will be no NOR
in yours. 1t will be night, and there will
come up cold wind from the Jordan, an,
you must start. Will it be lone woman
, on a trackless moon? All, no. Jesus viii
come up in that hour and offer his hand
| and he will say: "You stood by me whel
you were well; now will not desert yo
when you are SICK" One wave of Hi
, hand, and the storm will drop; and an
other wave of His hand, and midnigh
shall break into midnoon; and anothe
wave of His hand, and the chamberlain
of God will come down from the treasur
houses of Heaven, with robes lustrous
blood-washed and Heaven linted, in whic
you will array yourself for the marriag